Last Saturday I bought 3 Heathers. I left home with no intention of buying any plants at all.
And it's all because months ago I gave away the sad Blueberry bushes to my Sis-in-Law and BiL and also passed on a quarter of a bag of Ericasious compost. Later I remembered it was meant to be used to refresh the huge pot which holds my Camellia.
So off I go to buy a new bag of compost, they are quite big, which meant I would again be left with some in the bag sitting in the greenhouse but while at the garden centre I noticed their collections of Heathers, which also need Ericasious..........a colourful way to cheer up the winter patio and use some more compost I thought, but they were in packs of 6 and quite expensive, so I left them.
Information about the dyes used is difficult to obtain, apart from the general assertion that they are "food dyes".
To be effective, the dye has to be sprayed all over the heather. This treatment cannot be good for a living plant. Any plants I have purchased have been dead within a short time. The dyes are undoubtedly harmful to the plants by inhibiting photosynthesis and transpiration.
"Painted" heathers need the same growing conditions that all Calluna cultivars require: lime-free, moist soil and full sunlight. They are frost-hardy.
These artificially dyed plants are not indoor plants - they should be grown outdoors either planted in a container (tub, window-box) or into a flower-bed. However the garish colours are not appropriate for most garden situations.
What happens next? Providing the heather is alive and lives, new shoots should appear in spring. These will not be coated with the dye so they should be green (or turn green). Gradually the dyed foliage should be shed and a fully green plant will gradually develop.
In short, "painted" or "dyed" heathers are as artificial as plastic flowers - heather enthusiasts should not be tempted to waste money on them.
So I've got 1 real and 2 fake! and all because I gave away a quarter of a bag of compost!!
Although they look quite good when viewed from the kitchen window.
Glad you took heed of the odd number Sue but sorry you were taken in by the dyed stuff - I must say I had never heard of it, and always thought calluna vulgaris was just another kind of heather which would grow where erica wouldn;t. I have usually lived in areas where heather didn't thrive - although it does round here - I look out over heather fells.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they last through the winter I will be happy. I've never had much luck with any Erica in Suffolk - weather is not a bit like Scottish or even Yorkshire moorland!
DeleteOh, no! I've never heard of dyed heathers and they do look rather lovely on the table. Fingers crossed they will actually be OK.
ReplyDeletexx
They'll last me through the winter - and I'll see what happens next year
DeleteHubby is choosing heathers for much the same reason as you, we have a half bag of ericasious compost, we have a empty pot after gifting a neighbour a pot bound plant for her garden.
ReplyDeleteHow funny that you will be getting some too - hope yours are not fake!
DeleteWhat an appalling way to treat a plant, and the customer. At least when it's grey and murky in Winter, you will have something bright to look at, and maybe even laugh over.
ReplyDeleteI knew that teeny Christmas trees are often sprayed with white die to make them look snowy - but never thought about the heathers
DeleteI am not keen on heather in this part of the country as it seems not its natural habitat but they look colourful enough, fake or not, and will brighten a dull yard on a winter's day.
ReplyDeleteI've never had any luck with them in Suffolk - have tried several times in various houses. These will look OK for the winter
DeleteWhy do these 'experts' have to mess about with nature? I have bought flowers from supermarkets because they were bright and colourful, only to find out they were dyed. Needless to say I'm more careful now and steer away from ott bright and colourful.
ReplyDeleteI should have read the label, I only looked at the colour and the price!
DeleteI was given a dyed orchid, when the flowers died off I cut it back and it has regrown several times with white flowers.
ReplyDeleteGood that it keeps growing - I'd not heard of dyed orchids
DeleteCruelty to heathers - shocking ;)
ReplyDeleteI've saved them from being unwatered outside Tesco!
DeleteAww ... poor heathers!! I was always suspicious of the brightly coloured heathers at supermarkets and garden centres, rightly so it would seem.
ReplyDeleteI stopped buying ericaceous compost when our local garden centre owner and friend told me that the cheaper multi-purpose composts were just as good for any plants that need ericaceous. Maybe I shouldn't have told you that just now ... but at least we all now know about the fake heathers ;-)
I didn't know about the compost - it looks different to multi purpose - too late now as you say
DeleteI always thought the brightly coloured heathers looked odd, but didn't twig that they were dyed. Should have done really, husband knows never to buy me dyed brightly coloured flowers as I think they're an abomination...what's wrong with nature's glory?!
ReplyDeleteWhen it said Painted Heather I didn't realise it really meant Painted Heathers!
DeleteThey LOOK pretty anyway, and will renew afresh in the spring. I knew they were dyed, but don't mind them so much as the flowers which have been stuck in a jar of dye to draw it up into them and turn bright blue or whatever. Those I hate, along with the "floral cabbages" - anyone who gave me those in a bunch of flowers would see them chucked on the compost heap pronto!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only person to think that Floral Cabbages are just so wrong!
DeleteI found out about these fake heathers in exactly the same way by buying them a few years ago. Arilx
ReplyDeleteOh what a bloomin' palava Sue! Never mind...enjoy them for what they are...fancy you being fooled though!! x
ReplyDeleteWhatever next! I presumed they were like Leucadendrom ( how DO you spell that!) which come with yellow tips or the more common deep red ones.
ReplyDeleteLeucadendron!!
DeleteI've never heard of painted plants before - no doubt, something to 'look forward to' in our garden centres in the future.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteThe heathers are gorgeous even if two are painted.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.